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I am always looking for inspiration, not only for this column, but for my own life. Since last week's terrible election results for our country, I've been rather Solomonic, à la Ecclesiastes: "There is nothing new under the sun." However, watching an active elder like Rexburg, Idaho's Bob Carlson do the same thing he has been doing for over 40 years and always finding joy and purpose in it, as well as sharing that joy with others, has helped me to shift to the latter part of the book (Ecclesiastes 5:18):
Behold what I have seen to be good, that which is beautiful: To eat and to drink and to see good in all his toil that he toils under the sun all the days his life that God has given to him, for it is his portion.
As we dive into this season of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for elders like Carlson whose life is full of lessons for us to emulate.
Under the sun, is the subject of this week's Feel-Good Friday.
On Oct. 25, Bob celebrated his 89th birthday, and Rexburg is a better place because he is part of our community.
Bob has always had a special place in his heart for kids! When his own kids were young, he volunteered his time coaching Little League and helping with countless activities.
For 50 years, Bob has taught ski school at Kelly Canyon Ski Hill! Even while living with macular degeneration, he refuses to let challenges define what he can do. You can still find him at the hill every week, sharing his love of skiing and passing that passion on to others.
Carlson has lived quite a full life, even for an 89-year-old, as a March profile, published by East Idaho News, attests:
Carlson said over the years, he's done everything. He's been a truck driver, sorted potatoes in a warehouse, made cinderblocks and concrete pipes, worked at a service station pumping gas, learned to fly an airplane, and worked as a grease monkey and mechanic. The longest he worked anywhere was for a grocery store for 35 years.
"My father-in-law owned a grocery store, and I swore up and down all my teenage years that I wouldn't go to work at a store," Carlson said. "But I did, and it's probably one of the most satisfying things — other than this — that I have done."
That every man should eat and drink and see good in all his toil — it is a gift of God. Carlson has clearly taken this to heart.
Carlson said he's been a ski instructor for over 40 years. It all started in the late 1970s, a year or so after the Teton Dam collapse. At the time, Carlson said he was a part of the Madison Community Council, which convinced the school district it needed a ski program.
In its first year, they gave them a school bus to take sixth graders to Targhee on four Saturdays each month. The program was a success, and with the help of a new principal who was a certified ski instructor, it would grow and last many years.
"For 20 years, every student in Madison School District from third grade on up through high school had the opportunity to learn to ski," Carlson said.
Carlson was one of about 200 people who volunteered for the program, and that was where he started teaching skiing. When that program ended 23 years ago, Carlson was asked if he wanted to teach at Kelly Canyon.
"When we started to do that, I thought I was a pretty good skier, and I came up here and started skiing with these guys, and I didn't know nothing," Carlson said.
In the below video, Carlson told East Idaho News' Nate Eaton that he had been skiing and working with these people for over 40 years now. Eaton asked what he loved about his work.
Carlson said: "Everything. Mainly, I really enjoy skiing. But I really enjoy the people I work with. Some of them I've skied with for 40 years, and it's just awesome."
Age has taken its toll on Carlson's vision. He suffers from macular degeneration, and no longer teaches a full schedule of regular classes. But when a student is struggling more than others, Carlson brings them under his personal tutelage.
"If I see somebody in a class that's struggling to keep up with the rest of the class, I will take that person out and work one-on-one with them."
When Carlson is not teaching, he is doing his own practice, keeping on top of his own training.
"I'm practicing whatever it is I'm doing. I'll stop sometime, and I'll practice my side slips down the hill. Today, I'm just up there — and I love to carve — so I'm there trying to do that."
Carlson is an inspiration not just in his work, but in the establishment of a program for at-risk youth, the Lions Club Quest Program — now known as DARE. From the glowing letters sent to Eaton about Carlson, it seems Carlson's greatest testament is his own family, of which he has lived to see FOUR generations.
But Bob’s greatest legacy may be the love he has poured into his own family. He is a wonderful husband, a loving father, a magnificent grandfather, an amazing great-grandfather, and now a GREAT-GREAT Grandpa!
There is no grass growing under Bob’s feet! He stays busy, keeps showing up, and continues to give his time, energy, and heart to the people around him.
In the video, Eaton asked Carlson what his secret to longevity is. Carlson said, "I don't have a secret. I have lived life to the fullest. Anything that I've wanted to do, I have done it. Except skiing Australia and New Zealand, but there are worse things and my life is not over yet either!"
Wow. So many lessons: Never stop moving, never stop giving of yourself, and never stop dreaming. #ElderGoals.
WATCH: